I slowly made my way down the tower, Maria in tow. She had shared some info she had overheard the guards talking about, which made me fairly confident that the tower would indeed be empty at this time of night. A lapse in judgment on the guards’ front, perhaps.

The door leading from Maria’s room to the adjacent stairway had been a tough, metal contraption with a few dozen locks, but it hadn’t held up under my continuous assault. After a few minutes of targeting the hinges with my sharpened onyx chains, the thing collapsed. I dropped it to the floor with a quiet thud, and followed the twisting staircase that led to the tower’s base.

Flying would alert the guards, so I was hoping to find a gate that led to the battlements atop the fort’s walls, which would give us a straight shot out of here.

Maria and I were careful not to walk too loudly, but I felt that speed was more important than silence right now, so we were making good time.

The stairs seemed to go on forever, until we found ourselves in a large circular chamber with a domed roof. Strange markings had been carved onto the walls and floor, and a strange variant of dark mana flowed through them. The chamber was practically buzzing from the mana density, but I hadn’t a clue what the markings could be for.

“Did the guards talk about these?” I asked, pointing to one of the large symbols displayed on the stony surface we were standing on.

Maria tilted her head in confusion.

“Uh... no, I don’t remember hearing about any drawings...”

“Right. Let’s move on.” I replied, dragging her back to the stairs. We didn’t have any time to waste, but something about those markings was still bugging me. Thankfully, it didn’t look like any of the strange dark-affinity mana was circling Maria, so it couldn’t be some kind of magical prison either.

I considered more possibilities as we headed further down the tower, especially since we were encountering more and more rooms with carvings as we went along, but ultimately discarded the thought. Messing with those runes might bring more harm than good, after all. At least the markings explained why there weren’t any barracks set up inside the tower and why, as a result, there weren’t any guards either. Most likely they understood that whatever those runes were for, they couldn’t be anything good...

Several minutes later, we finally arrived at a door that led outside. From a small barred window at the top, I could tell that the small wooden gate led to the battlements, just as I had hoped. Unfortunately, the guard’s presence seemed to be much more significant on the walls. Every few meters, some mook with a sword and a torch would be standing guard, ready to raise the alarm if necessary. None of them looked very impressive tier-wise, but they were still an obstacle to overcome.

Furthermore, the lack of barracks inside the tower meant that we couldn’t exactly play dress up and disguise ourselves either.

That left two options. I could either head further down the tower in search of a better opportunity, which would take time we didn’t have, or I could stealthily take out the guards one by one, which carried its own risks.

Just as I was debating this issue, Maria and I heard two voices coming from further down the tower.

“...Di.. he.. .... really?”

“No.. ki..ing. He really said... to... is face. If only I had his balls. Made of brass, I tell ya.”

As they neared us, the voices became clearer, which also meant that we were out of time. For some reason, two guards were heading up the tower, and there was nowhere for us to hide. If they intended to go even higher up, then we were screwed.

That wasn’t the only issue, however. One of the presences that were coming at us gave me a faint buzz. [Weak mana sense] had picked him up, if only barely, which meant that he was one tough fucker, not someone I could take out by surprising him.

There was no time to panic, and I pushed Maria through the doorway, before following her and closing it behind us. Thankfully, there were a few wooden boxes set up near the door, which allowed us to hide from the other nearby guards. Caught between two groups of guards, I waited with bated breath until the high-tier passed by on the stairway. Thankfully, the pair wasn’t following us outside. Instead, they were heading further up, to Maria’s room. That meant we would soon be discovered, no matter what we did...

We had only a few minutes to escape, so came up with a plan on the spot.

We were currently hidden on the battlements behind a few boxes. On my left, I could see a collection of other buildings and towers, leading further into the compound. On the right side of the wall, there was a deep chasm that I couldn’t see the end of. Something about it made me want to continue staring at it, but I caught myself.

Straight ahead, at the end of the battlements, the tall rocky cliff I had jumped off of was located. As long as we got there, I could jump over to the cliff and climb around in the darkness. With some luck, I would even survive the process.

My options were looking bleak, but what choice did we have? I had come this far, and freedom was tantalizingly close...

The only obstacle on my path to freedom were the dozen odd guards set up along the battlements. Some of them were drinking booze and laughing, while other, more responsible guards were staring off into the distance.

No, wait... they were staring at the pit down below, unable to take their eyes off of it! That gave me an idea.

“Stay here for a minute, Maria.” I said, placing a finger near my mouth to shush her.

I slid from behind the boxes and apparated between two guards that were staring into the pit. As I had gambled, they weren’t paying attention to their surroundings anymore. Slowly, I spread out some pitch-black chains, which slid along the floor and quickly reached both ends of the battlements. Then, I acted first, and struck.

The sharpened ends at the end of my twelve chains struck like lightning and stabbed the various guars in the throat, stopping them from making a sound. Then, they dug their way into their skulls, killing my targets in one blow.

Thanks to the fact that I had apparated to the middle of the battlements, my chains had been able to reach every guard. My aura’s range would have been too short, otherwise.

I ran back over to Maria and pulled her out from behind the boxes. As we ran over to the edge of the walls, I noticed Maria turn green at the sight of the dead bodies. I scoffed and covered her eyes. I supposed I had become desensitized to such sights by now...

Moments later, we had arrived. Now, all that stood between me and freedom was a single jump, a single leap to the cliff’s edge.

I moved to grab Maria and put her on my back, but was interrupted when someone put their hand on my shoulder...

“Where did you think you were going with our captive, child?” a deep voice rumbled. The castle itself seemed to shake at his words.

The panic that was settling into my gut was replaced with resignation as I turned around. I stood face to face with a man... that had no face. Instead, I could only see a swirling black void that seemed to reach into the abyss. The man’s body was adorned by blue robes with a silver lining, and he carried a staff with a deep-blue orb at its top. His other hand was still placed on my shoulder.

“Did you think I would let you leave with one of the master’s trophies?” the voice rumbled again, though the man didn’t have a mouth.

I had gotten caught. Even worse, this person was a definitive tier 5, my mana sense was going crazy.

I tried to wrench myself free from his grip, but quickly realized that his stats eclipsed mine to such a degree that I had basically lost already.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Maria rush over and grab onto the tier 5’s arm, attempting to free me, but to no avail.

“Haha! You’ve made a loyal friend, haven’t you? No matter...” he spoke, before I felt my world shift.

All of a sudden, I was flying through the air, my body twisting strangely. My bones bent and my flesh was rent into pieces, before I crashed into the stone wall of the tower. At this point, my body had been turned into a crumpled ball, and my vision was fading as my eyes... shattered...

It felt like an eternity passed, yet I was left to my thoughts, all alone.

Had I really done all this, made it this far... just to die like this? This was all my fault, too... I had had the option, the choice to leave at any point... Then again, maybe the tier 5 had known about me from the start... Maybe the dry man had always known this would end in failure.

I had just been another piece on the board, another pawn to be moved...

Then, my vision suddenly cleared, and I was regaining some of my movement. Through my red and blurry vision, I could see that the I was still near the battlements, just stuck in the wall of the tower. With a gruelingly slow movement, I crawled out but by bit and sighed in relief when I saw my bones right themselves and my flesh recover. My body bent itself back into shape with sickening crunches and my flesh mended with wet squelches... but I was alive.

With a rough breath, I pulled myself up and watched as my wounds healed...

Atop the battlements, the tier 5 had noticed my situation as well. He laughed, and jumped down from the battlements to my position.

“Still alive? My my, I have to commend you: it’s been some time since anybody survived my [Abyss crush], let alone heal from it on the fly... I wonder how long you can keep that up, though...” he said, while bringing up his palm.

It, too, turned into a twisting black void. Time seemed to still as I waited with bated breath for the impact, ready to be twisted again... only for the tier 5 to suddenly be launched to the left, faster than I could follow with my eyes.

I stood there, shocked.

In the abyss tier 5’s place, stood... the old barkeeper?

“Gurgloar lurgle?” he asked. I supposed that he was asking me if I was all right. And I supposed I was... I was healing, and most of my big wounds had recovered. I was ready to go, as long as the barkeeper held off the abyss...

My eyes went wide as the tier 5 crawled out of the destroyed buildings, two equally imposing figures in tow. Their mana was rampaging, and their presence didn’t lose out to the abyss watcher’s general.

Then, more tier 5 mana signature’s appeared on my right, on the side of the battlements.

“Shit! More tier 5’s!” I cursed to myself. This had turned from a 1v1 into a 5v1, spelling all of our deaths.

Then, the battlements to my left suddenly collapsed and turned to ash. Two figures climbed out of the pit. They were the owners of the tier 5 mana signature, but they looked nothing like the abyss watcher’s other generals. One of them was a strange golem that seemed to be made out of bone, while the other was an unassuming wizard with a grey robe and a gray hat far too big for his stature.

These weren’t the abyss watcher’s people, these were the dry man’s generals!

“Did we arrive on time, Dullahan?” the wizard asked with a lazy drawl in his voice. He pulled out a bag, and withdrew some kind of round ball from inside, before throwing it at the barkeeper, who held it in his arms. It was only then that I noticed that it was a head!

The bodyless head in Dullahan’s arms spoke while the barkeeper pointed at me.

“Grab the girl and leave...” he spoke with an ancient voice, “We will hold them back...” he finished, before turning to the three abyss generals. The two new generals were a pair of warriors that used a hammer and a great mace, respectively. They lacked any chest plate, and looked the part of a berserker, if not for the fact that faces, too, were replaced by a black twister in honor of whom they served.

Did they want me to escape with her while they fought?!

Shit! Six tier 5s were duking it out and I was meant to escape in the chaos?!

After cursing the god of luck, I tore off towards Maria, picked her up, and jumped the gap to the outside world. I landed on the cliff face and used aura step to catapult us both into the air, before taking off towards the horizon. A moment later, I heard three giant explosions erupt behind me, their colors lighting up the sky and turning the fort into rubble. Hell had broken out, and it wouldn’t take long for any of the tier 5s to catch up to me if things took a turn for the worse. At least I had backup...

Now that cavalry had arrived, it was time for me to leave. Preferably, I would never have to come back.